Little Boys and Little Girls
by Baka Neko
Summary: Prologue of an AU. Can you hold the sun in your hands?


Once upon a time, there was a little boy. And there were two little girls. They hadn't met yet, but they would soon, and this story is about them.   
  
But first: the boy is six years old, and he wears a child's kimono and he has green eyes and he lives in big house. He wasn't alone because a big house like the one he lives in has a lot of servants, and so he was never really alone even when his parents left him alone.   
  
But then he did something bad, and because he did something bad, his parents told him he was bad and they locked him up and away from everyone, and then he was really alone, in the darkness and the empty room, and not even the servants could come in even when he cried.   
  
And he was alone for a very long time--so alone that even in his dreams he dreamed he was alone in the darkness.   
  
*********  
  
And there are the two girls.  
  
Saya-chan and Yuma-chan, as everyone called them, were cousins technically. Technically, because their mothers had been twins, and therefore they lived next door to each other and grew up together as sisters and thought themselves like twins with a little more space. They had shared the same cradle, the same toys, the same babysitter, and the same school and practically the same neighbours, until everyone called them "Saya-chan-and-Yuma-chan", and even their teachers never quite managed to break the habit.   
  
Their neighbours were the nice Konoe jii-san, who had been the school principal and recently retired, and the strange but very funny Watari-sensei who was new and teaching chemistry, and he blew things up in his backyard. Normally, being six years old and insatiably curious meant that Watari-sensei's backyard was very interesting indeed, but unfortunately Watari-sensei's backyard only blew up when Watari-sensei was not at school teaching but at home, and therefore it was not interesting now. Therefore Konoe-jiisan's backyard was more interesting, because he had a very pretty garden with lots of flowers and a swing, and Konoe jii-san could be relied on to not care if they did cartwheels while wearing skirts and swinging at dangerous speeds as long as they didn't damage anything, including themselves.   
  
However.   
  
There was a brick wall that basically meant that this part was Konoe-jiisan's garden and this was Saya-chan and Yuma-chan's garden, which Saya-chan and Yuma-chan thought was very silly. However, there was a tunnel behind Kaasan's gardenia bush and under the brick wall and under a hibiscus bush in Konoe jiisan's garden, which Saya-chan and Yuma-chan thought was neat. So whenever they went to Konoe-jiisan's garden to play, they scrambled through the tunnel under the wall and the hibiscus bush because it was so neat. This time, they bumped nose-first into the back of a green kimono. Evidently someone had found their tunnel, but had chosen to permantly plant himself in the middle of it.   
  
"Ouch," said Saya, who had been in the lead and therefore it was her nose she rubbed tenderly.   
  
"Ouch," said Yuma, sympathetically because it was Saya-chan's cute nose that had gotten hurt.   
  
"Who are you?" demanded the green kimono with a mop of untidy blond hair, turning around to face them, presenting a thin, small face that seemed to comprise mostly of a pale, tear-streaked face and huge eyes shimmering like wet jade. Neither of the two girls fell madly in love, being six years old, but they did seriously consider adopting him on the spot and carrying him home to put in their doll collection. But their Kaasans had explained that one did not put cute little boys or in doll collections, because they were Alive and Had Feelings, so the next best thing was to introduce oneself and be friends.  
  
"I'm Saya-chan--"  
  
"And I'm Yuma-chan--"  
  
"And we live next door. We came here to play on Konoe-jiisan's swing. Do you want to be friends with us?"  
  
Confronted by such blatant and shameless trespassing on someone else's property, the boy mostly just stared at them in sulky silence. That did not even dent Saya and Yuma's sunny mood.   
  
"Ah," said Yuma in tones of Now-I-Remember. "You must be Konoe-jiichan's grandson. The one who lives in a city very far away and is coming here to live with Konoe-jiichan and be our new neighbour. Kaasan told me that. Is that true?"  
  
"Yay!" said Saya. "Let's play together then. And then you can come over for cookies and milk, and we can show you our dolls. And then we can watch Pokemon on telly and eat more cookies."  
  
"I don't," said the boy coldly, "want to play with you. Or eat your cookies and milk. I want you to go away. The both of you."  
  
Saya and Yuma sat back a little, careful of their heads. They looked at each other with real perplexity. Never in their small and sunny lives had anyone _not_ wanted to play with them. They were adorable and cuddly and wanted to be friends with everyone, and therefore everyone wanted to be friends with them.   
  
Evidently, Konoe-jiisan's grandson had never met little girls before, and therefore did not know he was not supposed to resist adorable little girls. Saya and Yuma were not much bothered by that fact, because Konoe-jiisan's grandson had now encountered *them*. But even when they are cuddly, adorable and only six years old, they knew something was wrong, because if nothing had been wrong, Konoe-jiisan's grandson would not be crying soundlessly in the tunnel under the hibiscus bush.   
  
And the best thing to happen to someone who was unhappy, as Konoe-jiisan had once told them, was to have someone with them, and Saya and Yuma were doubly certain that it would be even better if that someone with them were two adorable little girls.   
  
And it also goes to show, you should never turn your back on little girls. Konoe-jiisan's grandson had never met little girls like them before, and therefore turned his back on them rather pointedly. There was a rustling of leaves and some scraping as someone backed out awkardly of the tunnel; there wasn't much room for turning. Fiercely he scrubbed his face with his kimono sleeve, then drew up his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms into a tight ball. He shivered a little-- all that crying had wrung him out, leaving a tight angry lump in his throat, and his tears were cold on his cheeks and sleeves were damp and cold.   
  
"Yay," said Saya, and pounced.  
  
There was a stunned silence for approximately four seconds, then an outraged squawk, and Konoe-jiisan's grandson was trying to untangle his arms and legs as well as the arms of a little girl that was now wrapped all over him. And of course, mentally smacking himself for turning his back on a girl. Or at least for not realising that while one person could make all the sounds of leaving, the other person could stay behind and pounce.   
  
"Yay," agreed Yuma a little breathlessly, then pounced. She had gone around the bush instead, and now Konoe-jiisan's grandson had absolutely no way of escaping from being glomped by Very Determined Little Girls.   
  
After wasting a minute of very futile struggling, he slumped a little in the surprisingly strong arms and said, rather weakly, would they please let go?  
  
"No," said Saya.  
  
"No," said Yuma.   
  
"K'so." said Konoe-jiisan's grandson very feelingly. You pick up a lot of things even when you're six years old, and one of them is an unerring instinct for Bad Words. It takes only once to learn a Bad Word, but several hundred times to learn Good Words like 'patience' and 'don't break anything'. No wonder parents have to repeat themselves.   
  
"What's your name?" asked Saya.  
  
"...Hisoka. Kurosaki Hisoka."  
  
"Hi-chan." said Yuma promptly. "Why were you crying?"  
  
There was a long silence as Hisoka debated on whether to snarl at her for shortening his name to a cute dimunitive or whether to mind her own business. Hisoka had never met the likes of Saya-chan and Yuma-chan before, but he was very quickly learning that they were impossible. ie. impossible to budge.   
  
"Mind your own business."  
  
"It's okay, Hi-chan," said Saya-chan, not the least bit perturbed. "We know it's not our business. We just want to know everything about it."  
  
"..."  
  
"Hi-chan," said Yuma-chan, pressing her cheek to Hisoka's hair. "We're your neighbours. We're going to be your friends too. We'll be there for you. So the next time you cry, you can come here, and we will come here, and you won't cry all by yourself."  
  
"We'll be here *forever*," Saya-chan said cheerfully.   
  
There was a very, very long silence as Hisoka allowed this to sink in.  
  
"Alright," Hisoka said stiffly. "Will you let go of me now?"  
  
"Okay," said Saya-chan obligingly--Hisoka was still in between the warren and sandwiched neatly between them, and therefore temporarily unable to escape. "So if you don't want to play with us, and if you don't want milk and cookies, you can still come to our house, and Kaasan makes very nice bean cakes and you can have juice instead."  
  
There was another long thinking silence, and Yuma-chan and Saya-chan took the chance to hold each of his hands in hers and wait patiently, patting it rather absently.   
  
"Alright," said Hisoka, still stiffly, but he followed them through the warren and over the fence and into their home, where, as promised, Kaasan had bean cakes and juice and cookies all waiting for them.  
  
********************************  
  
"Kaasan," said Saya sleepily, as her mother tucked her in next to Yuma-chan, who was sleeping over again.   
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Why did Konoe-jiisan bring Hi-chan home? Didn't Hi-chan have a home with his Kaasan and Tousan too?"  
  
"Ah." said her mother, stroking her hair. But now even Yuma had woken up a little, and was blinking curiously at her.   
  
"Well, Hisoka-kun is...special. He's very fragile, and he gets sick easily. So the doctors told his parents that Hisoka-kun had to go stay in the country to get better. But Hisoka-kun's Kaasan and Tousan are very important people in the city, so they couldn't leave. So Konoe-jiisan told them that he would take care of Hisoka-kun for them until he got better."  
  
"Oh," said Saya.   
  
"But he didn't look sick." said Yuma. "He looked really sad. Didn't he miss his Tousan and Kaasan?"  
  
Kaasan said, mildly, that Hisoka-kun had gotten better, and if two little girls didn't go to sleep right now, they wouldn't have a chance to see how much better Hisoka-kun had gotten tomorrow. Then Kaasan wished them both goodnight, and extinguished the light. She did not like lying to the girls, but at six, she felt, you were too young to learn that there were Tousans and Kaasans in this world that could hate you for living, and want you to go away even if you love them and miss them very much.   
  
Once Kaasan's footsteps faded away, two fluffy heads poked up again.   
  
"It's okay, Saya-chan." said Yuma, squeezing her hand. "We'll help Hi-chan get better. And every time Hi-chan is lonely, we'll be there for him, right?"  
  
"Right." said Saya decisively. "Tomorrow, we'll go to his garden and see if Hi-chan is there. And this time we'll show him how to play on the swing."  
  
And then they dreamed of milk and cookies and swings.  
  
******************  
  
"Okaeri-nasai," said Hisoka softly.   
  
"Tadaima," Konoe-jiisan replied, smiling gently at the little boy.   
  
Hisoka only fidgeted with his sleeves, looking down. But there was colour in the pale cheeks, and though his eyes were red from crying, someone had wiped away the tears. And while there was dirt on the kimono and small bare feet, there was also two pairs of grubby handprints on the kimono sleeves, where two little girls living next door might have held him as they dragged him off to play.   
  
"I got dirty, Jii-san," said Hisoka timidly.   
  
"Maa na, it can't be helped." Konoe-jiisan said. "Let's go have a nice hot bath, then, shall we? And I will scrub your back and you can scrub mine, and tomorrow we will wash your clothes and make it clean again."  
  
Hisoka brightened, then followed him into the bath, then snuggled into the futon with his grandfather--his new bed would be arriving tomorrow.  
  
Konoe-jiisan said into the darkness, "Would you like to hear a story before you sleep?"  
  
"May I?" said the little voice.   
  
So terrified of infringing boundaries this one, as if having found that even the asking was a privilege.   
  
"What would you like to hear?" he asked gently.  
  
There was a breathy space, and then -- "Ojisan," Hisoka said hesitantly, "can I tell you something instead?"  
  
"Of course," Konoe-jiisan said and felt Hisoka snuggle closer.   
  
"I met two girls today." There was a very long pause as the six year old mind struggled to find words to describe them, and finally gave up. It mostly involved words like 'scary'. But you weren't supposed to say that of people. Like that time he had told Okaa-sama the man was bad, and she had slapped him.   
  
"Did you like them?" Konoe-jiisan prompted.   
  
"..Hai." Hisoka said hesitantly. "They brought me to their house, and their Kaasan give me some cakes and juice."  
  
"That's very nice of them. Will you be playing with them tomorrow?"  
  
"..Hai. They said they'll teach me how to play on the swing." Hisoka, now drowsy, curled up in the warmth of his grandfather's side, burrowing his face against his shoulder. And suddenly the words were bubbling out of him, so many words, and he had never known he could hold so many of them. "Ojiisan...do you know?" he heard himself yawn. "Ojiisan...they..."  
  
/They hugged me, Ojisan, and they weren't afraid of touching me.   
  
They wanted to be my friends.   
  
It's okay, right? If I tell them, that sometimes, when they touch me, I can tell what they are thinking and feeling.   
  
Ojiisan, you're not like Them. You won't scold me right, if I tell them that I'm different? Do you think they'll mind if I'm different?  
  
And Ojiisan--when they hugged me--they felt like the sun. Bright and shining and warm. Ojiisan, I held the sun in my hands.../  
  
And he dreamt of the sun, and beancakes and strong little girl hands, one pushing and one pulling, out of the darkness and into the light.   
  
  
*******************  
OWARI 


End file.
